Over the past ten years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devised and implemented a project that “aims to accelerate the development and application of innovative technologies to produce a new, dynamic picture of the brain.” The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is marking the milestone of a decade of funding innovative projects through partnering Institutes and Centers. Since the initiative’s inception, vision-related projects have encompassed a significant portion (20 to 30 percent) of the “BRAIN portfolio.” Michael F. Chiang, MD, Director of the National Eye Institute (NEI) noted that the substantial emphasis on vision stems from the fact that the retina, as an extension of the brain, is “more accessible than other parts of the brain.” It is easy to photograph through new tools such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), a non-invasive imaging technique that takes detailed pictures and surgically accesses retina layers using light waves. The eye is also more easily accessed surgically than other parts of the body, making the ”eye and the visual system an outstanding model system for developing and testing new tools and methods.” Dr. Chiang added that “BRAIN-funded projects have begun to explore how understanding eye motion and gaze in a variety of experimental systems…can enhance our study of visual processing.” One of the promising developments has been the “BRAIN Atlas and the Cell Census Network.” Gaining knowledge about the cell types within the retina helps scientists to “understand signal processing and may provide new approaches to preserving and restoring sight.” Read more on the NIH/The BRAIN Initiative webpage featuring the BRAIN at 10: A View from the National Eye Institute | BRAIN Initiative.
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